US Indymedia Centers

thank you so much for all your emails and words of support. i can't tell you how much me and my family appreciate it.

my family and i are physically ok, but i will not start describing the emotional, psychological and mental state we, or any one in lebanon is in. Many of you have asked me to write updates whenever i can, and so i write this the night before i venture with my sister to jordan, through syria, on the tripoli road, the last one that hasn't been destroyed yet.

This first episode details the situation of displaced Iraqis who are now living in a refugee camp outside Fallujah.

The included video was provided to us by an Iraqi production team at a press conference concerning the camp. The footage was provided to the Rafidain channel, but as far as we know has not aired previously. The audio leaves something to be desired, but everything has been subtitled in English.

The next episode will detail the lives of refugees in the Ruweishid Refugee camp on Jordan’s border with Iraq. We expect to upload one episode per week, on Monday or Tuesday, as well as various full-length interviews throughout the week.

The men flock around the car with hope and apprehension: they weigh their distance, eager but cautious, drift in through the crowd of friends and contenders in hopes to find a job. This time the car deceives them, hums and rattles, but leaves with as many passengers as it arrived. With hunched shoulders setting a front against the cold that sneaks through the cracks, the men disperse and resume talking about life, about soccer, anything that will keep their minds off the accumulated stack of bills and debt. These are but a few of the undocumented immigrant workers who stand around our street corners, looking for work.

These are excerpts from the AliveinBaghdad web site. A project initiated by a BIMC member and currently freelance reporter, Brian Conley, reporting from Amman, Jordan.

During his first trip to Iraq, Brian focused on interviewing Iraqis living in and outside Baghdad. Previous to his trip to Iraq, he had been shooting video for seven years, worked internationally in Quebec City and Guatemala, contributed with Indymedia on two films about the FTAA, and worked independently with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Miami Workers, and other organizations of Communities of Color. See www.aliveinbaghdad.org for complete information on this project.

Socially responsible artwork from Zimbabwe makes a big impression and gives a different image of Africa.

Usually the term fair trade is associated with coffee, chocolate or bananas. But how often do you hear about fair trade art? Planet Aid and Friends Forever Zimbabwe will host a three-week exhibition at the Harriet Tubman House displaying fairly traded sculptures from Zimbabwe starting May 3.

Roughly 20 demonstrators gathered at the General Consulate of Mexican in Boston today at 4:00pm. They were protesting the recent wave of repression by the Mexican government against residents of Texcoco and Oaxaca. Chanting slogans such as “they killed that young boy in the street,” followed by “and said it met his human needs,” protesters marched in solidarity with the people of Texcoco, which is located near Mexico City. Mexican riot police have directed a brutal campaign of dislocation and eviction against residents there that left one fourteen year old boy dead. As a result, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) suspended “The Other Campaign” and called for worldwide actions to support the victims of Mexican state brutalization.

On Tuesday, April 11, at 5:00 pm, 20 young Jewish people gathered for a seder (traditional celebration of Passover) outside 126 High Street in Boston, the building that houses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Boston's Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). The group expressed their support for Palestinian human rights and opposition to AIPAC’s and JCRC’s unquestioning support for Israel and its governmental policies. With a banner that read “Passover means liberation for all. Justice for Palestine,” they conveyed the message to the organizations inside and to the media that AIPAC and JCRC do not speak for all Jews.